Warning signal



March 30, 1954 J. INSUL WARNING SIGNAL Filed Feb. 3, 1953 36 36 36 35 36 360 240 I20 OF F 720 INVENTOR. JACK INSUL Byw mm CW ,ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 30, 1954 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE WARNING SIGNAL Jack Insul, Chicago, Ill. Application February 3, 1953, Serial No. 334,949

8 Claims.

This invention relates to on-ofi indicators and, more particularly, to on-ofi indicators of the type which are particularly well adapted to be used as control-knobs on the control shafts of radio receivers, gas stoves, electric stoves, and the like.

It is a primary object of my invention to aiford a novel indicator which is effective to signal the relative rotated position of a control shaft, and the like, in a novel and expeditious manner.

Another object ofmy invention is to enable a novel indicator of the aforementioned type to be constructed in a manner wherein indicia which indicates the rotated position of a control shaft, or the like, is readily Visible and other indicia, representing. other. positions, is obscured by a liquid or fluid medium in a novel and expeditious manner.

A further object of my invention is to afford a novel indicator of the aforementioned type wherein indicia for showing the various positions of a control shaft, or the-like, may be readily placed in the peripheral edge portion of the indicator and all but the pertinent indicia showing the position of the shaft is shielded from view in a novel and expeditious manner.

Yet another object in my invention is to provide a novel indicator of the aforementioned type which is eifectively sealed against the entrance of dirt or other foreign matter thereinto.

Another object is to afford a novelindicator of the aforementioned type which is compact and relatively small in size, reliable in use, and may be readily and economicallymanufactured commercially.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following descrip- 5 tion and claims and are illustrated in the accomapnying drawing which, by way of illustration, shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principle thereof and what I now consider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles maybe used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art Without departing from the present invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of an indicator embodying the principles of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the indicator shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View taken substantially along .theline 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view of certain of the parts shown in Fig. 3;

ill

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 in F g. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a plan View of a portion of the indicator shown in Figs. 3 and 5, with the portion laid out fiat.

The indicator shown in the accompanying drawings to illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention is in the form of a rotatable operator or control knob ill which comprises, in general, a head or body member I 2 and a hub portion 54, Figs. 2 and 3.

The head i 2 affords a member which may be manually gripped to rotate the indicator and thereby rotate a control shaft to which the indicator is attached as will be discussed in greater detail presently, and includes a substantially cupshaped base it, .theouter peripheral edge portion of which constitutes a hollow annular memberor rim i! having an inner peripheral wall |9,an outer peripheral wall 213, a front wall 2| and a rear wall 22. A finger-grip member 2 projects forwardly from the central portion 25 of the base member is, Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and affords a member which may be readily gripped in the fingers by a person desiring to rotate the control knob Ill.

The hub it projects rearwardly from the base It in substantially axial alignment with the finger-grip member 24 and has a socket 26 therein which is adapted to receive the outer end portion of the control shaft 23 which it is desired to rotate by manipulating-the indicator Ill. The hub i l-is releasably secured on the shaft 23 by suitable means such as, for example, as shown in the drawings wherein the socket 25 in the hub 14 is so constructed as to have a relatively tight fit on the shaft 28 and, in proper position thereon, and the normally lower face 33 of the socket 261's flat to engage the correspondingly flattened portion 32 on the; shaft 223 to thereby positively hold thehub 1 4- fIOlll rotation relative to the shaft 28,- Figs, 3 and 5.

The control knob H) is preferably so formed that the hub Hi, the finger-grip member 24 and the central portion 25 are opaque in nature, whereas the Walls iii-22 of the hollow annular member i? are transparent. To accomplish this, I prefer to form the hub M, the finger-grip memher 2 3 and the central portion 25 as a single unit from a suitable opaque synthetic resinous plastic material such as, for-example, suitably pigmented Lucite and to form the hollow annular member I! as a separate unit, the walls !922 of the latter being formed of a suitable transparent synthetic resinous plastic material such as, for example, Lucite in its natural form. With therefore, be frictionally held this construction, the walls |9-2| of the annular member l'i may be formed as a single integral unit and the rear wall 22 may be formed as a separate unit. The rear wall 22 may then be attached and sealed to the walls |92|, and the annular member I? may be attached to the outer edge portion of the central portion l6, by suitable means such as, for example, a suitable adhesive.

As is best seen in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, an indicia strip 35 is mounted on and wrapned around the outer face of the inner peripheral wall Hi. This strip may be made of any suitable material but I prefer to make it of a suitable corrosive resistant material, such as, for example, aluminum. The strip 35 preferably has on its outer face 36, suitable indicia 36 whereby, when the strip 35 is viewed from a certain position, as will be discussed in greater detail presently, the indicia visible from that position will promptly indicate the relative rotated position of the control knob l and, therefore, of the shaft 28. The indicia used on the strip 35 may take various forms. Thus, for exam le, it will be seen that in the accompanying drawin s. the strip 35, it is shown as bearin indicia 38, Fig. 6, which is in the form of printed legends, the center legend being off and the other legends being temperatures starting with the temperature 120 and running from 120 to 720 in increments of one hundred and twenty degrees. The indicia thus shown in Fig. 6 is suitable for use on the control knobs used on control shafts used to control the operation of ovens on gas stoves, electric stoves and the like. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other indicia such as, for example, other suitable printed legends, various indicating colors, and the like, may be used without departing from the purview of my invention.

It will be remembered that the annular member I1 is hollow and when the rear wall 22 is in place, is completely sealed. Within the annular member I1 is disposed a suitable liquid or fluid 4| such as, for example, water having a suitable vegetable dye dissolved therein, the fluid 4| only partially filling the annular member so that an open space or viewing area 42 is, at all times, afforded at the upwardly disposed portion of the annular member H.

The annular member I1 is preferably completely made from a suitable transparent material, such as, for example, a clear transparent plastic, but, in any event, at least an annular portion of the outer peripheral wall or the outer edge portion of the front wall 2| is afforded with a transparent strip therearound so that, if the fluid 4| were not present in the annular member H, the indicia 38 could be viewed through the outer edge portions of the annular member I! from any position therearound. However, the fluid 4| which is afforded in my novel indicator I0 is of such a nature that it restricts the view of any portion of the indicating strip 38 except that portion lying within the viewing area 42 of the annular member H which is not filled with fluid. I prefer to use a fluid 4| which is opaque, so that the portion of the strip 35 covered by the fluid 4| is absolutely obscured from the vision of a person looking in through the edge of the indicator l0. However, if desired, the fluid 4| may be merely translucent so as to merely interfere with the viewing of the indicia covered by the fluid 4| sufficiently to afford a proper contrast between the indicia to be read and the indicia not to be read at the various positions of the control knob In, the important consideration being that a clear line of demarcation should be made between the indicia which is relatively readily viewed through the space or viewing area 42 and the indicia covered by the masking fluid 4|. Therefore, I have adopted the term masking fluid as the term to be used with respect to the fluid 4| and it will be understood that by masking fluid is meant a fluid which I prefer to be opaque but which may merely be translucent, or the like, so as to obscure the indicia covered thereby from view, or at least interfere with the viewing of such covered indicia.

In the operation of the indicator shown in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, it will be seen that with the position of the control knob It shown in Fig. 1 being the normally off position of the shaft 28, the indicia 38 bearing the legend off would be disposed at the top of the outer face of the inner peripheral wall l9 when the control knob ID was disposed in the position shown in the drawings. In this position, as shown in Fig. 2, the indicia off is readily visible from a position above, or above and in front of the control knob Ia through the outer portion of the annular member H, but the other indicia, namely, the members to 720, inclusive, would be obscured from view by the masking fluid 4|. As the control knob IB' is manually turned in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, from the off position to fully on position, to thereby correspondingly rotate the control shaft 28, the indicia off would move into po ition wherein it was obscured by the masking fluid 4| and the indicia from 120" to 720 inclusive, would sequentially follow the "off indicia through the viewing position wherein it is disposed in the space or viewng area 42.

During return movement of the control knob I II, from the fully on position the off position the indicia "off to 720, inclusive, sequentially follow each other through the viewing area 42 in reverse order to thereby clearly indicate the relative rotated position of the control shaft 28 in all positions thereof.

It will be appreciated that my novel control knob Ill is intended to be used in a substantially vertical position, or in at least an upright position, wherein the indicating area 42 will always be at the top thereof. When so used it will be seen that normally the rotation of the control knob is at such a rate that the liquid 4| remains substantially stationary and is not appreciably carried into the indicating area 42. However, even in those instances where the control knob H1 is rotated at an abnormal rate of speed suflicient to cause the liquid 4| to be carried up into the indicating area 42, as soon as the rotation of the control knob I0 stops the liquid 4| again settles into the lower portion thereof to thereby substantially immediately afford a clearly defined viewing area and a clearly defined masked area.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have afforded a novel indicator which is practical, is efficient and reliable in operation, and may be readily and economically manufactured commercially.

Thus, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that this is capable of variation and modification.

I claim:

1. An on-oif indicator for use with a rotatable shaft and comprising a rotatable structure for connection and rotation with such a shaft for indicating the position of the shaft, said structure including a transparent portion visible from the exterior of said structure, indicia disposed insaid portion and'rotatable with said structure, and masking fluid partially filling said portion and covering a portion of said indicia to thereby shield said portion of said indicia 'from view from the exterior of said structure, the remaining portion of said indicia being visible through said transparent portion from the exterior of said structure. r

2. An on-oif indicator foruse with a rotatable shaft and comprising a rotatable structure for connection and rotation with such a shaft forindicating the position of the shaft, said structure including a transparent hollow member rotatable with said structure and visible from outside of said structure, masking fluid partially filling said hollow member and retained by gravity in the lower portion of said hollow member during rotation of said structure with said shaft and thereby leaving a predetermined upper portion of said hollow member free of said fluid, and indicia disposed in said upper and lower portions of said hollow member and rotatable therewith, said indicia being so disposed in said hollow member that the indicia in said upper portions is visible through said hollow member from outside of said structure and the indicia in said lower portion is obscured from view from outside of said structure by said liquid.

3. An on-off indicator for use with a rotatable shaft for indicating the rotated position of the shaft and comprising a rotatable structure for connection and rotation with such a shaft, said structure comprising an outwardly disposed transparent hollow member disposed around the shaft and visible from outside of said structure, masking fluid partially filling said hollow member so that part of said hollow member is filled with said liquid and the remainder of said hollow member does not contain said liquid, and indicia on said rotatable structure and rotatable therewith, said indicia being so disposed on said rotatable structure that during such rotation of said rotatable structure said indicia moves relative to said liquid so that part of said indicia is 1 disposed inwardly of said liquid and is obscured from view through said hollow member from outside of said structure by said fluid and part of said indicia is disposed in alignment with said remainder of said hollow member and is visible therethrough from outside of said structure.

4. An on-oif indicator for use with a rotatable shaft for indicating the rotated position of the shaft and comprising a rotatable structure for connection and rotation with such a shaft, said structure comprising a transparent hollow member disposed around the shaft and rotatable therewith upon rotation of said structure and the shaft and visible from outside of said structure, masking fluid partially filling said hollow member, and indicia in said hollow member, said indicia being so disposed in said hollow member that during such rotation of said hollow mem-' ber said indicia moves into and out of said fluid, said indicia being visible through said hollow member from outside said structure when disposed out of said fluid and being obscured by said fluid from view through said hollow member from outside of said structure when disposed in said fluid during such rotation of said hollow member.

5. An on-off indicator for use with a substantially horizontally disposed shaft for rotating the shaft between an on and an off posig tion and indicating the relative position of the shaft during such rotation, the indicator comprising a rotatable operator, and means on said operator for mounting the latter in operative position on the shaft for rotation With said shaft, said operator including a transparent hollow annular member rotatable around said shaft as an axis during such rotation of said shaft and said operator, masking fluid partially filling said annular member, said masking fluid being normally held substantially stationary by gravity in the lower portion of said annular member upon such rotation of the latter around the shaft to thereby afford a shielding area in the lower portion of said annular member which is filled with saidliquid and a viewing area in the upper portion of said annular member which is above the normal level of said liquid, and indicia mounted in said annular member and rotatable therewith, said indicia being so positioned in said annular member that the indicia disposed in said shielding area is shielded from view from outside of said annular member and the indicia disposed in said viewing area is visible from outside of said annular member.

6. An on-olf indicator for use with a substantially horizontally disposed shaft for indicating the relative rotated position of said shaft from a predetermined position, the indicator comprising a rotatable operator, and means on said operator for mounting the latter upon such a shaft for rotation therewith, said operator including a hollow annular member mounted around the shaft as an axis and rotatable therearound, said annular member having an inner peripheral wall and an outer peripheral wall, indicia mounted on said inner wall and rotatable around said shaft with said annular member, that portion of said indicia which is in one portion of said annular member disposed at one predetermined position relative to said shaft being visible from outside of said operator through said outer peripheral wall, and a masking fluid disposed in the other portion of said annular member resisting the viewing of the portion of said indicia disposed in said other portion of said annular member from outside said annular member through said outer peripheral wall.

7. An on-oif indicator for use with a substantially horizontally disposed shaft for indicating the relative rotated position of said shaft from a predetermined position, the indicator comprising a rotatable operator, and means on said operator for mounting the latter upon such a shaft for rotation therewith, said operator including a hollow annular member mounted around the shaft as an axis and rotatable therearound, said annular member having an inner peripheral wall and an outer peripheral wall, each of said walls having an inner face and an outer face, indicia mounted on said inner face of said inner wall and rotatable around said shaft with said annular member, at least a part of said outer peripheral wall being transparent for permitting the viewing of indicia therethrough, and masking fluid partially filling said annular member and obscuring from view through said outer peripheral wall that portion of said indicia disposed in the portion of said annular member filled with said fluid.

8. An indicator-handle for use with a substantially horizontally disposed rotatable shaft for rotating such a shaft and indicating the relative rotated position of the shaft during such rotation and comprising a substantially circularshaped body member, and an elongated hub pro- 7 jecting from said body member in substantially axial alignment therewith, said hub having a recess therein for receiving the shaft in substantially axial alignment with said hub to thereby operatively mount said hub and said body member on the shaft for rotation therewith, said body member including as a peripheral edge portion thereof a hollow annular member having an inner peripheral wall and an outer peripheral wall, each of said walls having an inner face and an outer face, a strip member mounted on said outer face of said inner peripheral wall, masking liquid in said annular member and filling all of said annular member except a predetermined portion disposed at the top thereof. said outer peripheral wall being transparent whereby the portion of said strip member disposed above said liquid may be viewed through said outer peripheral wall from outside said body member, said masking liquid being light resistant to thereby at least partially obscure viewing of that portion of said strip disposed in said liquid from outside of said body member through said outer peripheral wall, said strip having indioia thereon to thereby indicate the portion of said strip which is viewable through said outer peripheral wall and thereby indicate the relative rotated position of said body member and the shaft.

JACK INSUL.

No references cited. 

